Gareth MacHale and Eamonn Boland meanwhile will compete in Ford Focus WRC’s, while Peugeot will be represented by Philippe Roux, Jean-Marie Cuoq and Frederic Romeyer, the latter entered in a 206, while the other two will use a 307.
“Last year was a great introduction to WRC for us. Being the first Irish competitors to score World Championship points since Billy Coleman in the Tour de Corse in 1985 was an excellent achievement for me personally and indeed for the whole team,” said MacHale, who has confirmed he will take in 11 WRC events this season. “Our goal this year is to continue to make an impact and to get ten months solid practice in before Rally Ireland WRC in November, where we aim to give the international competition a real run for their money at home.”
Of the rest 19 will take part in Group N cars, most noticeably Red Bull’s Andreas Aigner and Riccardo Errani, while four will be in A7 cars and seven will be entered under the A6 category. The most significant to enter the event in a S1600 car is Martin Prokop, who took the JWRC win on Rally Catalunya last year.
Route:
The route has been completely revised and only the final morning will be spent in its traditional Monaco base. Instead Valence will host the service park around which the bulk of the action is based.
Thursday evening's opening leg is in darkness throughout and heads into the Vercors mountains east of the city.
On Friday the action moves south-west of Valence into the Ardèche for the longest leg of the event, which includes two passes over the massive 46km St Pierreville - Antraigues.
Saturday's competition is located north-west of the city in the Haute - Loire region. A free transit section then takes competitors to Monaco in the evening before a short super special stage around the harbour area of the Principality's Grand Prix circuit brings the competition to a close on Sunday morning. There are 15 stages covering 328.54 kilometres in a route of 1185.02 kilometres.
Hot tip:
Difficult to predict as it is the opening event of the season, although as ever, like in 2006, it will probably be a battle between three time world champion, Sebastien Loeb and two time world champion, Marcus Gronholm. As Seb will be in a new car and is still not 100 per cent fit following his mountain bike accident, the pendulum may swing in Gronholm’s favour. It is important not to forget though that Seb is a master on the Rallye Monte Carlo, while Gronholm doesn’t especially like the event - or running on asphalt.
Last year:
Marcus Gronholm won the Rallye Monte Carlo in 2006, over 1 minute up on
Sebastien Loeb, who snatched second from
Toni Gardemeister in the final test. Manfred Stohl and Stephane Sarrazin completed the top five, followed by
Chris Atkinson,
Mikko Hirvonen and Dani Sordo.
